On this day in 1858, pioneer Mormon leader Lyman Wight, determined to lead his people back to the North following a premonition of the coming Civil War, died near San Antonio. Wight, born in...(Read More)

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Last Spanish governor of Texas appointed

March

27

1817

On this day in 1817, Antonio María Martínez, colonel of the infantry regiment of Zamora, became the last governor of Spanish Texas. He was born in Andújar, Spain. He entered military service in 1785 and had a distinguished career, winning the Cross of Northern Europe and the Cross of Germany on European battlefields. He assumed the political and military governorship of a troubled Texas in 1817. While Spanish troops had defeated a series of revolts and invasions, Martínez complained that the king's soldiers had "drained the resources of the country, and laid their hands on everything that could sustain human life" in the process. By the summer of 1821 the Spanish regime was faced with disaster. Agustín de Iturbide was in possession of Mexico, and Martínez, at the request of the Baron de Bastrop, approved Moses Austin's petition for permission to bring 300 settlers into Texas. On July 18, 1821, Martínez was forced to issue orders requiring the oath of allegiance to Iturbide. After learning that José Félix Trespalacios had been appointed to succeed him, he surrendered his office peacefully on August 17, 1822. Martínez returned to Mexico City and died there in November 1823.